Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association

Remembering & Exhibiting Games Past: The Popular Memory Archive

Helen Stuckey, Melanie Swalwell, Angela Ndalianis, Denise de Vries

Abstract

The Popular Memory Archive is an online collaborative research portal for collecting and exhibiting the production and reception histories of Australian and New Zealand micro-computer games of the 1980s. Proposed as a resource for both historians of technology and media, and the public, the site provides the means to collect and share the memories of those who lived and played their way through this period. This article surveys activity on the site and offers some preliminary evaluation of the significance of the online contributions. From this we consider the discursive, inclusive and questioning practices of the portal as a means of exhibiting historic games.

Stuckey, H., M. Swalwell and A. Ndalianis. “The Popular Memory Archive: Collecting and Exhibiting Player Culture from the 1980s.” In Making the History of Computing Relevant, edited by A. Tatnall, pp. 215–225. Berlin: IFIP Springer, 2013.

Swalwell, M. “Towards the Preservation of Local Computer Game Software: Challenges, Strategies, Reflections.” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies vol. 15, no. 3, 2009: 263–279.

Swalwell, M. 2013. “Moving on from the Original Experience: Games History, Preservation and Presentation.” In Proceedings of DIGRA 2013: Defragging Games Studies., Altanta, USA. http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/paper_454.pdf

Swalwell, M. and M. Davidson. “Game History and the Case of ‘Malzak’: Theorizing the Manufacture of ‘local Product’ in 1980s New Zealand.” In Locating Emerging Media, edited by G. Halegou and B. Aslinger. New York & London: Routledge, 2015.